Industry Europe article featuring 'Dragados Offshore' by Oscar Del Santo

1. 148 Industry Europe Industry Europe 149
world’s leading oil companies, delivering a
wide range of projects: the list includes
the likes of jackets, integrated topsides,
modular plants, semi-submersibles top-
sides and hulls or FPSO modules, etc.
This is especially meritorious when one
takes into the account that this complex
market has seen most of the European
yards close, as fabrication moves away
from Europe. Mr Cabot says, “Dragados
is the only offshore fabrication company in
Spain. This is challenging, given that this
type of product is not demanded in this
country, which as everyone knows has
very few oil and gas reserves.”
Yet Dragados has managed not only to
remain competitive but to secure a much
coveted pole position in this complex,
rapidly changing market.
The last 30 years have witnessed the
Spanish contractor going from strength to
strength. “We have been fortunate in
being involved in record-breaking, history-
making projects almost from the day we
became operative” says Mr Cabot. “The
Scott Utilities and Services module for
Amerada Hess was our first heavy module
at 9,000 tons. In 1987, we completed our
first on-shore project, the 15,000 ton
Mongstad modular refinery for Statoil.
Our heaviest jacket, the Britannia – at
21,000 tons – was completed in 1997 for
Britannia Operator Ltd.” A real challenge
followed with the Oresund Bridge for
Sundlink Contractor HB. This is the
bridge that links the cities of Copenhagen
in Denmark and Malmo in Sweden, and
Dragados Offshore played a major part
with the construction of the 49 spans
forming the whole bridge. “Each span
weighs 5,500 tons and we had to make
25 shipments to transport them all, since
only two could be loaded at any one time.
We were sending them by twos every
other day for a period of 21 days. We feel
FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH
AS
one of the undisputed world
leaders in offshore equipment
design, fabrication and installa-
tion for the offshore oil and gas sector,
Dragados Offshore S.A., a company
belonging to Dragados Industrial S.A.,
one of the Spanish most important indus-
trial group of companies, has proven
capabilities and all the necessary resources
to develop large-scale projects. The com-
pany operates two strategically located
yards, one in Puerto Real in southern
Spain and the other in Tampico in the
Gulf of Mexico. Since 1972, Dragados
Offshore has worked for some of the
After successful completion and delivery
of the mammoth “Snøhvit” natural gas
plant for the Norwegian oil company
Statoil, and with its Mexican operation,
fully consolidated, the Spanish EPC
Contractor giant Dragados Offshore
is seeking to expand to new markets
across the world. Sales director
Bernardino Cabot talks to Oscar Del
Santo about recent successes, current
projects and plans for the future.
Snøhvit LNG plant being transported from Cádiz to Melkoya island
Snorre lower hull floating at
our Puerto Real yard quay.
Buzzard production deck (Nexen). 12.000 ton

2. 152 Industry Europe
very proud that we were able to bring
more than 250,000 tn all to completion
on schedule.”
The first semi-submersible hull that
Dragados Offshore manufactured was for
Norks Hydro to operate in the Snorre B
Norwegian sector of the North Sea. It is
reputed to be one of the most complete
hulls ever delivered by a yard with a weight
of some 15,000 tons. “Three years ago
we finished our first ever assignment for
Mexico, built in Mexico under an agree-
ment with local partners, the AKAL GC
compression platform. Now we have also
finished a 19,500 ton compression/produc-
tion platform for AKAL L field. This included
the 12,000 ton deck built in Spain, with the
rest of the project – jackets, piles, tripods
and decks – built in Mexico. The list just
mentioned is in no way exhaustive; as a
matter of fact we have executed more
than 60 different projects in our almost
35-year history.”
Snowhite in the Arctic
Yet Mr Cabot has to concede that the
35,000 ton, natural gas liquefaction (LNG)
plant Snøhvit (Snowhite) for Norwegian
Statoil constitutes the company’s greatest
achievement to date. Rarely has an engi-
neering project attracted so much public
attention in Spain: ‘revolutionary industrial
engineering’, ‘a true challenge carried out
in style’ or ‘a tremendous accomplishment
in coordination and complexity’ are some
of the expert reviews that have been echoed
across the national press. This project has
galvanized all of the company’s resources:
more than 4,500 people have been
involved in its different stages, repre-
senting a combined output of more than 5
million working hours. It is only when one
looks into the intricacies of this under-
taking that its momentousness can be
truly appreciated. As Mr Cabot points out,
“Not only is this the first LNG plant in
Europe, but it is the first time ever that a
LNG plant has been built so far from its final
destination – some 5,000km away.”
‘Severe weather conditions’ would be
an understatement to describe the climatic
situation in the Norwegian island of
Melkøya in the Barents Sea – well inside
the Arctic Circle. Minus 40 degrees Celsius
temperatures and 70 mile an hour winds
are common features of this most inhos-
pitable of locations. Yet it is here that the
plant is targeted to start operations in
2006 with an estimated production capacity
of 4.3 million tones of LNG a year. The gas
is sent from the reservoir to the LNG plant
on the island via sub-sea production instal-
lations operated remotely from inland.
“When it becomes operational, it will beat
the world record in transport pipeline dis-
tance of multi-phase flow, at 140 kilome-
tres,” says Mr Cabot.
“The plant was built on a massive steel
barge in our Puerto Real yard, using the
second largest crawler crane in the
world.” While the barge was moored and
grounded along the quay, prefabrication
of all main steel and piping had already
started. With the barge in its final position,
all fully pre-assembled steel modules,
painted and fireproofed, outfitted with
piping and equipment, were erected on
the barge. In between, all the main equip-
ment was installed, including heat
exchangers, distillation columns, refriger-
ation compressors and even its own
power generator area, consisting of five
generator turbines of 50MW each.
“The massive barge on which it was
built had dimensions of almost two foot-
ball fields. It was essential not just for the
building process but also for transport
purposes – having been transported by
the heavy lift ship Blue Marlin to the
Melkøya Island, the barge was installed in
a previously blasted-out dock. Once the
plant is in place, the gap between the
barge and the dock is to be filled with
gravel and the surface of the barge to be
covered with a 600 mm layer of concrete,
thus becoming the plant foundation.”
Witnessing the massive barge sail
majestically away from the bay of Cádiz
Oresund bridge spans loaded on transport barge.
5,500 ton/unit – 270.000 ton. Total weight.
Snøhvit facilities during the erection phase. 25.000 ton.
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3. T
he refinement and processing of glass
requires a high level of know-how,
experience and innovation, characteris-
tics that could be held to define the German
company Flachglas Wernberg GmbH. The
company’s glazing products are to be found
in buildings and vehicles worldwide.
Flachglas Wernberg’s 650 workers
have over 60 years specialist experience
in glass manufacture, knowledge that is
applied through the latest hi-tech equip-
ment at the company’s 80,000 square
metre production centre in Wernberg,
south-east Germany.
Perhaps unusually, Flachglas is owned
by its workforce. The company started
out as Sigla GmbH in 1938. The company
expanded steadily and, in 1970, became
Flachglas AG, after combining forces with
another glass company, Delog. Ten years
later, in 1980, the company became part
of the multinational Pilkington Group. But
in 1999, Pilkington decided to discontinue
their engagement in processed architectural
glass. The Flachglas workers arranged a
buyout, acquiring 51 per cent of the com-
pany, and changing the name to Flachglas
Wernberg GmbH. Since then the company
has continued to expand, becoming one
of Europe’s leading glass manufacturers
with a turnover of €63 million a year.
The company believes that, as it is owned
by the workers, this has a huge effect on
productivity as motivation is very high.
Wernberg is a very small village with a
population of only 7,000 people and 650
are employed by Flachglas Wernberg.
Whereas obviously not all the staff live
in the village, it is believed that almost
everyone who does has a family member
working at Flachglas.
“I believe we are the biggest company
in Germany to belong to the people. We
get a lot of visits from politicians to see
how it works. But it’s not a workers’
SEE THROUGH SUCCESSTop quality glazing in buildings and vehicles is a technically sophisticated product. John Venables
reports on a group of German workers who had such faith in their product they bought the company.
Industry Europe 157156 Industry Europe
DRAGADOS ■ ENERGY
was an emotional experience for
Dragados Offshore workers. “We were
overcome by a mixed feeling of pride, sat-
isfaction and also sadness, since most of
us knew that, due to its remote location,
we were never to see the plant again.
I can honestly say that we have given the
best of ourselves to this project, and its suc-
cessful completion has meant a lot for us.”
Reaching out to the world
The Puerto Real Yard in Cádiz where this
massive undertaking was accomplished is
itself quite a feat of engineering, when one
considers that it comprises almost 500,000
square metres of land gained from the
sea. It includes all the necessary facilities
one would expect such as structural,
piping, blasting, painting, welding and
fireproofing workshops.
“Thanks to our long experience, our
workforce is highly qualified and trained
for ever more complex tasks,” explains Mr
Cabot. “We developed our own Integrated
Management System, and this has proved
to be an invaluable tool in integrating project
management with our Safety, Quality and
Environmental programmes. We are so
pleased to have carried out hundreds of
really complex manoeuvres over the years
– such as the lifting, roll-up, loading and
transporting of huge structures – without
any serious accident or mishap. To me
this speaks volumes for the profession-
alism and commitment of our staff. While
others have gone out of business, we are
thriving and receiving full credit for our
past and present accomplishments.”
The yard’s strategic situation and the
almost all year round good weather con-
ditions it is blessed with have made it a
location of choice for contracts destined
for the Mediterranean Sea, the West Coast
of Africa or the North Sea. “We will very
soon start the expansion of our existing
pier to turn it into a 300 metre long wharf.
It will be capable of withstanding 50 tons
per square metre and it will mean a 21,000
square metre addition to the yard. This
will allow FPSOs, HLVs, GBSs and semi-
submersible hulls to dock and we will be
able to do things like mounting topsides
and hooking them up. We believe this new
line of business is full of opportunity.”
There is no question that Dragados
Offshore is actively responding to the
challenges of globalization by reaching
out to new markets. In the year 2000, and
due to the predicted depletion of North
Sea oil and gas reserves, the company
decided to expand and chose Mexico as
a vantage point. “We started out with four
different contracts as a joint venture
leader, or main contractor with local part-
ners. These were very well received, and
that positive feedback – coupled with
the great prospects for expansion of the
Mexican oil giant PEMEX – made us
decide to open a new yard in Tampico,
in the Gulf of Mexico. We have just com-
pleted our first contract there and are
about to begin a new assignment.”
Last year the company decided to open
Dragados Offshore USA in Houston in
order to support the procurement activi-
ties in Mexico from USA and to consoli-
date and strengthen its commercial
presence across the Atlantic.
An agreement has also just been
reached with a Russian shipyard on the
banks of the river Volga to develop a
number of joint projects for the Caspian
Sea. Negotiations are being carried out in
the Middle East for other joint ventures.
“We are also very keen to consolidate our
position in the West Coast of Africa without
overlooking the Mediterranean Sea where
opportunities do come up from time to
time,” says Mr Cabot.
A promising feature
There has been no respite after the com-
pletion of Snøhvit. Dragados Offshore is
currently engaged in several large-scale
projects in both of their yards. In Puerto
Real, a 12,000 ton production deck for
the Buzzard Field in the North Sea (UK
sector) for the Canadian company Nexen is
expected to be completed by April 2006.
There are two noteworthy PEMEX assign-
ments being carried out in the Tampico
yard at present: the EPC 60 – consisting
of an EPIC Contract of a production plat-
form (17,400 tons) and the KU-A2, a
production and compression platform
including jacket, deck, bridges, tripods
and other elements to be delivered in
October 2006.
In November last year, the company
made news when it was awarded the
prestigious Premio Principe Felipe a la
Excelencia Empresarial (Prince Philip
Industrial Quality Award). This accolade
recognises Dragados Offshore’s contribu-
tion to business excellence for its Quality
Programme and was awarded by the heir
to the Spanish crown, HRH Prince Felipe
de Borbon y Grecia.
“One of the main reasons for our suc-
cess is that we have a truly committed,
highly-trained and skilled workforce.
This is, in my view, the only way you can
truly carry out any Quality and / or
Environmental management programme,
especially bearing in mind that we extend
this program to all outsourced personnel
involved in our operations. We are inte-
grated in the region and over the years
have become part of the community,”
reflects Mr Cabot. Based on their past
and present performance, the Spanish
engineering giant is set to become a
global force to be reckoned with this
promising yet uncertain market. ■■
Load out of the Britannia Jacket. 21.000 ton.
EPC 60 deck
(Pemex). 4,000 ton.
Dragados Offshore yard at
Puerto Real (Cádiz) – Spain